West Memphis 3 figure seeks solace in Salem
These convictions came about at the height of what is now termed “The Satanic Panic” mass hysteria in the USA which can be directly linked to right wingers and their religious dupes.
West Memphis 3 figure seeks solace in Salem
By Loren King | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT MARCH 16, 2013
Salem has made the most of its infamous connection to the 17th-century witch trials, with reenactments, witchcraft museums, Halloween parades, and year-round spooky events. So perhaps it’s no surprise that Damien Echols, a man who spent 18 years on death row for a crime many people now believe he didn’t commit, has found refuge in this North Shore town.
The 1993 murder of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Ark., along with the prosecution and legal battle that followed, captivated the nation and earned Echols and the two men convicted with him the moniker of the West Memphis 3. As questions about their guilt mounted, celebrity supporters, including “Lord of the Rings” filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, and Johnny Depp clamored for justice, and eventually it came with the trio’s release in 2011 under an obscure provision.
That journey from crime to conviction to release is chronicled in a new documentary that opened here Friday, “West of Memphis.”
“It isn’t fun for me to talk over and over about the worst thing in my life,” says Echols, 38, who moved to Salem with his wife, Lorri Davis, last September, barely a year after his release from Arkansas’ Varner Supermax prison. “You don’t even get a chance to heal because you are constantly ripping wounds back open. I look forward to not talking about it.”
He hopes to be exonerated one day — the murder conviction remains on his record. As for why he settled in Salem, Echols says that’s easy.
“The only two places I’d want to live were Salem and New York City,” he says. “Due to its history, Salem’s like a mecca for people in any form of alternative spirituality.”
Echols, who sports tattooed arms, long dark hair, and a soft-spoken intensity, says he hopes to open a meditation center in Salem and maybe a tattoo parlor. His dark eyes are often hidden behind sunglasses he wears due to damage from light deprivation after 10 years in solitary confinement.
“I learned to meditate in prison,” he says. “There were times when I was so sick or in so much pain that I didn’t think I’d make it through the night. I had to learn reiki and qigong to preserve my health and keep me going.”
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